This invention relates in general to wireless communication systems, and more specifically to a mobile wireless router.
Mobile stations (MSs), e.g., cellular handsets, recently have become able to obtain wireless connections to packet data networks, such as the Internet. A terminal equipment (TE) device, such as a printer, PDA, or notebook PC, can connect to an MS (through, for example, a cable, Bluetooth, or other wireless internet protocol (IP) technology such as IEEE 802.11x) and use the MS as a modem to connect to a wide-area network or communication infrastructure. This way, a client TE device can make a packet data connection through an MS to access a server on the Internet.
Several limitations are encountered when the MS is utilized in this manner. One limitation is that it is difficult to connect more than one TE device at a time to the MS. Another drawback is due to the fact that the connection through the MS is not transparent, because the connection process depends on the protocols and methods used by the mobile system. The MS will most likely also require non-IP protocols for connecting the client TE device. In addition, redundancy is limited: when the link between the MS and the mobile system infrastructure fails, non-standard methods must be used to connect the TE device to the infrastructure via another MS. It is also difficult to optimize the overall traffic flow. More than one MS may be able to provide Internet connectivity to the TE device. Some of the MSs may experience reduced capacity, as their cellular links will now not only carry the locally originated traffic (at the MS) but also the traffic to and from the TEs.
Thus, what is needed is a way to optimize traffic flow on the wireless connectivity between a TE device and a packet data network in a manner that is transparent, fully standardized, and less dependent on the reliability of the involved cellular infrastructure.